In the third in the Spinoff’s Last on the list series, Gerrie Ligtenberg explains what inspired her to stand for the Green Party in Rangitata. At the 24th spot on the list, if the Greens can win around 20% of the party vote, Ligtenberg is parliament bound. Ngā mihi ki a koutou. Ko Tatimana te … Read more
The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. 5pm: The day in sum Auckland transport received a $182m boost from the government for four transport projects to help the region’s economic recovery. Torrential weather battered the upper North Island with roads closed and residents evacuated due to flooding. … Read more
Sam Brooks pens a love letter to the after-school gateway drug of the late nineties and early aughts: anime on free-to-air TV. If you look on the free TV schedule today, you’ll find a dearth of good after-school content for kids. Assuming a child-spawn gets home at around 3:30pm, they’ve got an hour of TVNZ … Read more
Tinder became the world’s most popular dating app by promising serendipitous connections with online strangers. But there’s nothing random about the way it works, explains Matt Bartlett. While most leisure activities were throttled by the Covid lockdown, others thrived – just ask any of your friends who did Yoga With Adrienne. Another unlikely winner? Dating … Read more
Things with Todd Muller made sense. He was cautious and bland. National would fight the election over who had the best ideas. Jacinda Ardern would avoid getting dirty and debate those ideas. Then Muller left. And a firecracker was lobbed into the campaign. The dawn of a Judith Collins led National Party has upset election … Read more
New Zealand film-maker Roseanne Liang has just brought her direct, funny and empathetic directorial voice to a big-budget American action thriller. She talks to Michelle Langstone about cosmic partnerships, her love of fight sequences, and how she inadvertently found herself caught up in a #MeToo scandal. Portraits by Edith Amituanai I’ve never seen anyone light … Read more
People have been writing about what diversity can add to an organisation for literal decades, and yet we find ourselves with two major political party leaders that either can’t or won’t accept some very easy-to-grasp concepts. Gerry and Judith, this is for you. New National Party leader Judith Collins announced on Wednesday that she would … Read more
Hello, and welcome to The Spinoff’s Live Updates for July 17. If you want to get in touch about anything, flick me an email at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 5.30pm: The day in sum Simon Bridges revealed he wanted Mark Mitchell to lead National. Judith Collins unveiled a $31 billion transport plan, including rail to Auckland Airport. The blogger … Read more
Think The Repair Shop is just a boring television show for the oldies? Think again. The Repair Shop is the nicest show on television, and yes, I am talking about that programme on Friday nights where old people take their old junk to an old shed to be fixed. Your nana probably loves The Repair … Read more
National’s new leader made her first big appearance in front of a crowd today, announcing her party’s $31 billion infrastructure policy. What got the biggest applause? It was standing room only (due to a lack of seats) at Judith Collins’ big policy address in central Auckland this morning. After a week of turbulence within the … Read more
Oliver Tree is a semi-pro scooter athlete, a brilliant character actor, and a musician with a breadth of experience rare for any millennial. And he’s finally released an album. That skater-emo voice, those dirty pop beats, the tearing lyrics and absurdist videos – and then, out of nowhere, ska. Oliver Tree’s inspiration must come from … Read more
Another PS4 exclusive, another game about the cost of violence. Sam Brooks reviews Ghost of Tsushima, the last big exclusive of the console. A lot of gamers have been calling for a game like Ghost of Tsushima since Assassin’s Creed started moving into different time periods and locations across the globe. They wanted an Assassin’s … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin DiAngelo (Penguin Random House, $28) … Read more
A new poem by Chris Tse. (Turquoise: Art & Magic) Rothko Chapel, January 2014 A room in which my hushed mind was a kaleidoscope waiting for light. I thought about the past year and the absences I allowed to fill me. I thought I’d never rid myself of the intimacy that pained my … Read more
Competition for customers is fierce among telcos, but which mobile plans offer the best value for money? We compare them to find out. When I was in high school more than a decade ago, mobile plans were about as simple as you could get. There were just two providers (Vodafone and Telecom, née Spark) with … Read more
Jean Teng has had a lifetime of people telling her they despise tofu, when really they just don’t know what to do with it – or it’s been cooked for them by someone similarly clueless. While everyone else was breaking their back kneading for crusty sourdough during lockdown, all I wanted to do was make … Read more
The blurred lines between employees and independent contractors have once again been examined in the employment court. This time it involves the world’s largest ride-hailing company. For the very first time, Uber has been drawn into the New Zealand Employment Court to contest whether a former driver was an employee or an independent contractor. This … Read more
For the next 10 weeks, the Vote Climate 2020 campaign will be looking to build momentum behind climate change as a key election issue. With the campaign launching today, organiser Sophie Handford explains why a vote for the climate is a vote for saving the future. Right now it’s 2020 and we have until just … Read more
In June, Trevor McKewen, an Australian citizen living in New Zealand, travelled to Queensland to be with his dying brother. Now back home, and staying in an Auckland hotel, he writes this dispatch from his second spell of managed isolation in as many months. For the past month and a bit, I have lived in … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins announces major reshuffle after two leading MPs quit, horror story of migrant worker abuse revealed, and Auckland’s emergency budget passes. So, there was a bit of incorrect information in yesterday’s Bulletin about departures from National. It turns out Amy Adams will also be quitting, meaning … Read more
Hello, and welcome to The Spinoff’s Live Updates for July 16. If you want to get in touch about anything, flick me an email at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.15pm: The day in sum National MPs Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams both announced they were quitting politics. Simon Bridges and Todd Muller are back on the National front bench, … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Scottie Chapman from Spring Sheep Milk Co. New Zealand is famous all around the world for sheep and … Read more
The leader of the National Party, Judith Collins, doesn’t know how much cheese costs. Yesterday, the nation stopped when one of the hosts of The Project, Josh Thomson, asked Judith Collins how much a 1kg block of cheese cost. “I think it’s about $4 or $5 – something like that, depending on the cheese,” she … Read more
Two days before alert level four lockdown, Unity Studios was meant to open its doors for the very first time. First-time business owners Caitlin Day and Sophie Lax were forced to quickly become a virtual studio hosting classes and consults online. If you’ve never been on a Pilates reformer, the large machines look a bit … Read more
The new National Party leader enjoyed a very short political honeymoon, with two MP resignations landing this morning. Her challenge now is to pull off a superhuman repair job on the party’s core reputational strength, writes Toby Manhire. It wasn’t quite a team of five million, but when Judith Collins took the stage in the … Read more
A campaign against a huge new dump north of Auckland has drawn together a coalition of iwi, local residents and local government. With their rāhui ignored, they’ve decided to send a hīkoi direct to Auckland Council’s door. Alex Braae reports. For Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish (Ngāti Whātua), the prospect of pollution reaching the Kaipara Harbour … Read more
When medically prescribed cannabinoids are inaccessible or ineffective, ‘green fairies’ step in to help. Those in chronic pain deserve better than an ad hoc, black market system, writes Kevin Dew. “Green fairies” are dealers who provide cannabis products to those who want to access them for health purposes. As well as cancer sufferers, these include … Read more
Wikipedia’s coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic has outdone most media companies in both content output and page views. Josie Adams spoke to Wikipedian Mike Dickison about what makes the organisation so good at covering these events. There are more than 5,200 articles about Covid-19 on Wikipedia. One defines the disease, and another the virus that … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Nikki Kaye reportedly set to quit politics, clearer indications of what response to renewed community transmission would be, and Auckland Council to debate emergency budget. The most prominent liberal in the National Party is expected to quit politics today, in what will be a massive … Read more